Extending Nord Stream Must Comply with EU Laws

A deal between Russia's Gazprom and its European partners to expand the Nord Stream gas pipeline would have to comply with EU rules, the European Commission's vice president said on Tuesday.

Gazprom and its partners signed a shareholders' agreement on the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project in September that will bypass Ukraine and run beneath the Baltic Sea to Europe, bringing Europe closer into Moscow's energy orbit.

The United States criticised the announcement, while the prime minister of Slovakia called the deal a "betrayal" that would cost his country and Ukraine billions of euros in lost transit fees.

"Now there is a lot of discussion about the project of the Nord Stream ... all projects of this magnitude would have to comply with the European legislation," Maros Sefcovic told reporters on a visit to Bulgaria.

"We need solutions which would not change to the negative the gas balance for some of the European countries, but which should improve the security for all."

(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova)